2022 U.S. Nationals: Senior Men's Free Skate

[jenaj]

I don’t think many thought Jason should have been left off the team. Instead it should have been Vincent. He has crapped the bed too many times and under rotates his jumps.

Vincent had a gold at Nebelhorn, a gold and bronze on the Grand Prix and he qualified for the GFP. Under the USFSA rules, he was correctly chosen.

ETA: strike that—he had a gold and a silver on the Grand Prix.

 

[cheerknithanson]

Ilia is going to have a bright future. He's shown he can skate when the lights are bright. Who KNOWS if any of the three will be skating for the 2026 Olympics?

 

[Oreo]

Jason must be a bawling mess right now, considering: all the cxl flights, the drive from Atlanta, his mum having to find his costumes from the airline in Chicago and drive them to him, Traci testing positive, heck the whole last four years…

 

[Flying Feijoa]

I think based on past trends, USFS prefers going with established names and fan favourites (better for ratings), so Chen/Brown/Zhou are most likely. As the quadsters are somewhat inconsistent, compelling narratives outweigh (dubious) medal strategies.
Though the biggest factor of all is COVID, so I think chances are high for Malinin to end up in Beijing.

And I was right. Very American decision, true to form (unlike e.g. Japan)

 

[labgoat]

I don’t think many thought Jason should have been left off the team. Instead it should have been Vincent. He has crapped the bed too many times and under rotates his jumps.

No need to be disrespectful to Vincent in this way.
This board would be intolerable if we addressed every dispute this way.

 

[Maribelle]

Tough call, I think I would say Zhou should be 1st alternate based on his performance at last World's and today. If Chen would have faltered, Ilia could have won.

 

[Mista Ekko]

I don't get the argument of "Ilia has a bright future" to wash the committees hands with

We don't know that he does
He's ready right now

 

[lariko]

So we're gonna hold it against him that his year of transitioning into Seniors was full of covid cancellations?

Lovely...

Yeah, it is totally his fault that he didn’t even have one full junior season in 2 Covid years that stretched over his coming into his own. The audacity of being born in the wrong year!

This year JWC will be ridiculously overpowered with Sato and Malinin.

 

[readernick]

I don’t think many thought Jason should have been left off the team. Instead it should have been Vincent. He has crapped the bed too many times and under rotates his jumps.

Terrible way to express this. Also, it wouldn't be right for the USFS not to follow it's own guidelines. By those guidelines, Vincent had to be selected.

 

[Jennings56]

No need to be disrespectful to Vincent in this way.
This board would be intolerable if we addressed every dispute this way.

didn’t realize I was disputing anything. Just giving my opinion. Sorry if it offended you.

 

[natsulian]

As much as I adore Ilia Malinin (I've followed his skating since the 2017-2018 season), choosing Jason Brown was the right decision. Ilia has competed in six international events, medalling in three. However, Ilia's record is uneven: he's placed as high as first in some events and as low as 16th in others (Junior Worlds 2020). Only during the 2021-2022 season did Ilia show signs of consistency: polish is what is needed. Furthermore, Ilia is a BUDDING talent necessitating experience whereas Jason is a developed veteran with TWELVE years of international experience under his belt. While some may argue that the Olympic Games present a huge learning opportunity for a prodigy like Ilia, the lead-up to such an event requires honing. Therefore, experiences like the Junior World Championship or Four Continents Championship will allow Ilia to grow into the skater he dreams of becoming. Ilia is only 17-years-old, time is on his side. Additionally, he's never taken off internationally until this season due to injuries. Jason, on the flip side, is 27-years-old and alongside Nathan and Vincent, carried the US men this past quadrennial. Jason's resume, consistency, and commitment to improving his artistry (and jumps) are all you need to understand why he is beyond deserving of a second berth at the Olympic Games—in every sense of the word, Jason is a holistic skater. Figure skating is more than the jumps, hence the "figure" aspect of the sport. On the conversation of jumps, Jason's jumps are wholly impressive due to the transitions and speed required to execute them as flawlessly as he does so often. Jason is the embodiment of poetry on ice, a skater with artistic talents only seen ONCE IN A GENERATION. Whether you find his skating to be exquisite or boring, you cannot deny his talent with the blades or the effortlessness with which he moves. Jason is a trustworthy and strong minded competitor. This is his moment and much like how Jason waited and did all he could to secure his spot on the Olympic Team, so will Ilia. When the time comes, I am certain Ilia will do wonderful, groundbreaking things. Let Ilia take his time, his turn will come sooner rather than later.

 

[twirlingblades]

If the teams were pre-determined, why even have nationals at all? Keep the skaters away from potential Covid issues and name the team.

What a disaster. Fire everyone!!

 

[yume]

The selection committee followed the criteria exactly as written. Jason and Ilya were both in Group 3 but if you look at the more precise selection criteria Jason was ahead. I believe federations should follow the rules they wrote. Otherwise, it's not fair to the skaters. So, I agree with this decision and I agree with Vincent being on the team eventhough he should have been off the podium at Nats.

Japanese fed.

 

[moonvine]

Spelling out the names like, who was it, Tammy Wynette? In D-I-V-O-R-C-E

See, I do know some country music. I watched some of that Ken Burns documentary!

Yes my friend. That is Tammy Wynette

 

[labgoat]

didn’t realize I was disputing anything. Just giving my opinion. Sorry if it offended you.

Your opinion is valued and appreciated, just please be respectful of the skaters they work too hard to be spoken of so poorly.

 

[readernick]

Japanese fed.

But, the JN federation's decision was also totally expected. They go by Nationals every year unless a huge star couldn't perform at Nationals.

 

[lariko]

Ilia is going to have a bright future. He's shown he can skate when the lights are bright. Who KNOWS if any of the three will be skating for the 2026 Olympics?

He is 17, of Russian ancestry and long in the leg. Which means in a year, you could be looking at the same process as with Kovalev, Gumennik, Gogolev, etc. Being 1st alt loses him 4CC and Worlds. He is now going to JWC with his seriously overqualified Japanese counterpart. Except his Japanese counterpart was… 6th I think?

 

[Dpbthomas1]

I don't get the argument of "Ilia has a bright future" to wash the committees hands with

We don't know that he does
He's ready right now

He's great .. but not ready based upon all the USFS selection criteria.
At least not, since they had another skater that was.

 

[moonvine]

Artistry (interpretation) is highly subjective, but edging, turns, transitions, all the difficult athletic things about figure skating that aren't jumps, are not really subjective. They just get lost in the "artistic" side of things, and they shouldn't, IMHO.

The armed battles that erupt over whether a jump is under rotated would beg to differ. All of this stuff is subjective. All of it.

 

[anonymoose_au]

Well Vincent is screwed, get ready for the hate parade... Seriously the Twitterati are going to make him wish he never put on a pair of skates. Hide Vincent, hide!

Meanwhile I'm watching Artur D because the Olympic Channel isn't showing the Gala. That was one impressive 4A attempt!